Blog
Not Like That!: They must consider that great responsibility follows inseparably from great power.
Not Like That!How to build the wrong thing on purpose instead of the right thing by accidentby Adam L. CoombesI really like this book.It’s divided into seven-minute chapters, which I found particularly effective. They’re short enough that you can get through one whenever you have a few minutes, but ...
Computer Programming as an Art by Donald Knuth
For research for a blog post, I’m reading Computer Programming as an Art by Donald Knuth, a transcript of a presentation he gave in 1974. This particular passage resonated with me, especially in light of the current state of software engineering:The field of "automatic programming" is one of the maj...
A Dusty End
Finishing a story is difficult. It’s even more difficult to do well. It’s practically impossible to finish a trilogy well. I think Dust finishes the Silo trilogy quite well.Dust is a surprisingly short book, given all the threads which need tying up and the mysteries which need explanations. Rather ...
Beyond the Code: The Videos
I’ve given my Beyond the Code: Designing Services That Stand the Test of Time presentation a few times now. It started as a talk I put together for the ACCU Conference - which wasn’t accepted - and has evolved quite a bit as I’ve presented it to different audiences, and had conversations with people...
A Dedication Is What You Need
I really like Lukasz Quilter and his little band, they get into some fantastic scrapes.A Sound Inhuman has a gloriously gory beginning and then builds really nicely. I like a sci-fi story which creates lots of questions, which gradually get answered as the story progresses. This story has that in sp...
A Review: Surrounded by Idiots
Surrounded by Idiots: Entertaining, Thought-Provoking, but Don't Take the Colours Too LiterallyThomas Erikson's Surrounded by Idiots is one of those books that's easy to see why it became a bestseller. It's funny, engaging and full of memorable examples. It starts well with a sense of humour - the "...
QUERY: We've been abusing POST for 20 years
In June 2026, a new HTTP request method, or verb, was introduced. RFC 10008 describes Query as:A QUERY requests that the request target process the enclosed content in a safe and idempotent manner and then respond with the result of that processing. This is similar to POST requests, but QUERY reques...
RESTful APIs: Who Can See It, What Happens When It Fails, and When Is It Done?
I’ve been doing a kind of tour with my Beyond the Code: Designing Services That Stand the Test of Time talk. I’ve given it in Oxford, Norwich, Cambridge, London and York*, between February and August this year. I’ve really enjoyed giving it, but what I’ve loved the most is the feedback and the energ...
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A Review: The Machine Crusade
The Machine Crusade is mostly another middle of the road science fiction story, like The Butlerian Jihad, however what saves it are moments of brilliance from time to time and the ending, which accelerates considerably and keeps you wanting more.There are many characters, and I wish I’d made a note ...
Ghost in the Shower
I don’t usually enjoy ‘art’, however I’m often in museums as my wife enjoys it.We’re on the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) mailing list - mostly because my wife wants tickets for the David Bowie exhibition - and an email about the new Bharti Kher (https://bhartikher.com/) exhibition: Hybrid fo...